Victoria’s population is set to double by 2050. As our population rises, so will our demand for quarry materials such as rock, gravel and sand in order to build homes, infrastructure and private sector development. It’s vital to ensure extractive resources are sourced close to where they’ll be used in construction.
Strategic Extractive Resource Areas Pilot Project
Victoria’s population is set to double by 2050. As our population rises, so will our demand for quarry materials such as rock, gravel and sand in order to build homes, infrastructure and private sector development. It’s vital to ensure extractive resources are sourced close to where they’ll be used in construction. This is because it helps affordability by keeping construction costs down, while also reducing the need to transport material over large distances, which is a more sustainable approach.
The Strategic Extractive Resource Areas (SERA) pilot project aims to ensure quarries can supply raw materials well into the future while avoiding land use conflicts. The project will trial the establishment of SERAs that will define the locations of strategic state resources while considering other existing land uses, environmental assets and community interests.
The SERAs are proposed to be mapped and incorporated into the planning system with associated planning controls. The planning controls seek to secure the extractive resources and support the potential for complementary land uses. This will provide greater certainty to industry, land use planners and the community to better inform future land use well in advance of development.
The Victorian Government is inviting feedback on the methodology used to inform the SERA pilot project, the SERA boundaries in the two pilot locations, and the planning controls drafted to implement them.
Make a submission by completing the survey below. If you do not wish to be identified, please ensure there is no other information in your submission that could identify you or other individuals.
Submissions close on Friday 24 July 2020 at 5.00pm.
The new draft planning provisions have been based on areas that have already been identified as containing actual and/or potential extractive resources, which may be required by the community for future use. Standard quarry approval processes will continue to apply.
The proposed provisions do not imply that a quarry can be established without having to get a planning permit first. Defined sensitive uses as well as building and works and subdivision will require a planning permit. A planning permit application must consider the importance of the extractive resource on the land.
The authorities are working on Transport Network Development Plans to study quarry truck movements around the two pilot SERA sites. These plans will identify opportunities to improve transport productivity and efficiency and determine options to reduce the effect of truck movements on communities.
The Adams Creek Nature Conservation Reserve in South Gippsland is declared Crown Land. This land has been included in the SERA because of underlying sand, and it forms a part of the buffer for existing quarries. Any proposal to establish a quarry within the Reserve would require planning and biodiversity approvals, and access being granted by the Minister for Environment.
New uses might require a permit under the proposed SERA controls. This depends on the existing zoning that applies to the land. Generally, not many additional permits will be required under the SRO that weren’t already required under existing zoning. However, planning applications will also have to consider the management objectives and decision guidelines in the SRO.
The following uses have been deemed to be sensitive uses, requiring a permit under the proposed SRO:
• Accommodation
• Crematorium
• Education centre
• Funeral parlour
• Hospital
• Leisure and recreation
• Place of assembly
• Retail premises
• Winery
• Veterinary clinic
A planning permit will be required to construct a building, or to construct or carry out work. Some exemptions do apply.
Further details can be obtained from the Government website, or by contacting the planning department at South Gippsland Shire Council.
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